The political and social commentaries of a man who embraces and loves life. Politics, Economics, Civil Liberties, Freedom, Nautical events, Sports, Culture, and International affairs thrown in. I am probably best described as a "fiercely independent contrarian environmentally conscious libertarian." Just when you think you have me pigeon-holed, I'll surprise you....

Friday, April 06, 2012

If you are unaware of the term, Bears are a subculture of gay men. I’m a Bear. I will never appear on the cover of Men’s Health Magazine, or be featured on an advertisement for male exotic dancers: I have a belly, and there’s not a hard abdominal muscle in sight. Rather than shave my face (or my neck or my chest or my belly), I allow my body hair to grow naturally wherever it sprouts. However they are defined, "Bears" represent a decidedly masculine side of gay culture; we are often mistaken as straight men, because we most often appear like "regular guys." We also tend to like our beer and our bourbon, and parties, and are a fairly tolerant, live-and-let-live lot. And we tend to be pack animals: there are Bear ‘events’ (called “Bear Runs”) all over the world, every weekend, enabling us choose any weekend and get away to have a party with old and new friends.

In 2005, a small group of Montréal Bears decided to share their French-Canadian Bear culture with the International Bear Community, and the very first "SugarBear Weekend" took place. With hundreds of participants each year, SugarBear Weekend has now become the largest bear event in Canada, promoted with a trademark “big furry lumberjack.” The event is held at various locations throughout the Gay Village of Montréal, a compact, walkable section of Montreal that is the epicenter of gay life. Like Greenwich Village in New York City or the Castro in San Francisco, “Le Village Gay” (or simply, “The Village”) is the heartbeat of Montréal’s gay culture. It is French enough to remind visitors that they are in a land as closely related to Europe as to North America, but “Anglophone” enough to insure that American visitors can navigate the nightlife and order a beer in a nightclub without a problem.

Of the eight SugarBear Weekends that have occurred since 2005, I have attended the last six (2007 – 2012) and, hopefully, will continue to attend for years to come. Based on my six SugarBear experiences, all of which took place during the last weekend of March, I offer the following diary from 2012 as a typical gay man’s foray into Montréal.

Day 1 (Thursday): There are usually no events planned on Thursday, but that’s just more of an excuse to arrive early: It gives you a day to get settled and go anywhere without a schedule. This past year, we arrived early – 1:00 pm – and enjoyed a full day before the planned activities began.

If you’re going to Montréal, don’t look to book a hotel. There are no large traditional hotels in the middle of the Gay Village – but there are more than a dozen Bed and Breakfasts, all catering to gay men, that put you within a few blocks walk of everywhere you want to be. I have stayed at several (such as Absolument Montréal and Sir Montcalm), and have visited others. The Conciergerie, perhaps the largest, always seems to bring smiles to guests’ faces – but it is located on Rue St. Hubert, at the far western edge of the Village, and after a while its distance from the center of the Village can get annoying.

As for me, my favorite has always been La Maison DesJardins, located a mere two blocks from the center of everything on Rue Logan. Beautifully appointed rooms, a friendly staff, a home-like feeling, delicious breakfasts, a reasonable cost and the perfect location is hard to beat….but they go further. In the backyard of this guesthouse is a hot tub available for guest’s use, and upon arrival at our B&B, our first stop was the hot tub, wine in hand.

For those of us guys who love dogs (and every Bear I’ve ever met loves dogs), La Maison DesJardins comes with an extra bonus: Gaia, a huge, lovable, friendly English Sheep Dog, who will gladly visit with guests if permitted. For our money, La Maison is *THE* place to stay in Montréal.

After our dip in the hot tub, we spent the afternoon walking Rue Sainte-Catherine, the main road through the Gay Village. Visiting shops and coffee houses, one is constantly aware of the French love of art, design and form; the architecture of houses, the parks & monuments - even the parking lot designs - all reveal a French appreciating of beauty in the built environment.

In the center of the Village, we stopped at “Le Club Sandwich,” an overgrown diner, for our traditional first night mean: Poutine. Poutine is a French Canadian meal consisting of beef gravy and farmers cheese melted over French Fries. I take mine “Lyonnaise,” meaning that I also have sautéed onions and actual beef mixed in with mine. It may be a bit hard on the waistline, but – just as I always have a bagel with lox for breakfast before leaving New York City – I always have Poutine before starting my first night in Montréal.

And that first night is always enjoyed at Le Stud, on the corner of Avenue Papineau and Rue Ste.-Catherine. Le Stud is a nightclub with 4 bars (and a fifth on weekends upstairs), a DJ, and a small dance floor, and is packed with middle-aged Bears on any given weekend night. It is the “headquarters” of SugarBear Weekend, where we register, get our event passes, and run into dozens of men we have seen many times before across the northeast and in Montréal (Bonjour à Nate, Richard, Hank, Volker, Stéfane, Thierry, Gregoire, Marc, Timothé, Tatsu, Rusty, Mikel, Jacques, Jean, Pierre...) As usual, we got too involved in the first night’s party, and don’t get into bed until after 3 o’clock in the morning...

Day 2 (Friday): This is the first official event, a “Beach Party” in March, which, really, is a euphemism for a gathering at a local bathhouse.

Now, a good friend of mine (Chaz) once put together a list of 10 things a gay man should never, ever do. One of those items read, “Do not *ever* try to explain a bathhouse to your straight friends.” And actually, that’s good advice, so I won’t. But I will say this: this year’s “beach party” was a little disappointing. In the past, the party was held at the “Sauna 456,” located, appropriately, at 456 Rue de la Gauchetière Ouest, which requires a taxi ride as it is located slightly beyond the Village. But the ride is worth it: the first floor contains an enormous swimming pool, a nice-sized sauna and steam room, a lounge and sitting area for conversations, and an actual bar with food and beer. One can enjoy a very innocent party here, and there was room for funny contests (such as inked butt prints…) Or, one could enjoy the dark labyrinths that exist upstairs.

But this year, the 456 was closed for renovations (we hear it is supposed to open again in November 2012), so the party was held at the Oasis in the Village instead. Unfortunately, the Oasis is smaller and lacks the first floor amenities that 456 has, and proved somewhat boring overall. There is another sauna just a few blocks away, “G I Joe,” but we didn’t have the opportunity to visit this one (although I have only heard positive reports).

Instead, as good Bears, we focused our energies on eating.

Last year, quite by accident, we stumbled, quite by accident, into an incredible Italian restaurant. This year was no different: we took a chance on a restaurant named “Resto-Pub St. André” on the corner of Rue St.-Andre and Rue Ste.-Catherine…and found ourselves having food orgasms.
My partner Danny and I each tried the Fettuccini au Saumon Fumé (Fettuccini with smoked salmon) that was absolutely amazing.

The smoked salmon was, as far as we could tell, a high quality cut of lox, cooked in ample amounts in the fettuccini cream sauce. The dish was rounded out with small diced tomatoes and smothered in melted cheese with a scallion garnish. We both fell in love with our waiter, Raul, for his efficiency and friendliness. As I attempted to order our dinner in my broken French, he assisted with the correct French phrasing and then repeated everything in English to make sure the order was correct. On delivering our dinner, he then offered us freshly grated cheese and cracked pepper.

It was one of the most delicious meals I have ever eaten, and the price was on the low side of moderate. We are going to try to reproduce it at home for Easter Dinner.

We complimented our dinner with Chanvre Blonde, a red-colored, Hemp-based blond beer that was delicious and complicated, beginning with a floral-citrus aroma, an initially nutty taste, and a slightly hop-like bitter finish. This was the first and only hemp-based beer I had ever tasted, and I loved it.

After dinner, we headed down to the corner of Rue St. Hubert and Avenue Viger, to the Auditorium des Archives Nationales du Quebec, where the Image+Nation LGBT Film festival which has been operating for 21 years), entertained us with two movies: The Rescue, 18-minute comedic short comparing the search for a boyfriend to the process of adopting a rescue dog at a shelter; and Boystown, a full-length Spanish-made film that can best be described as zany drama.

In the past, SugarBear organizers have tried multiple events on Friday nights, from fashion shows to dinner theaters, all of which were colossal flops. This time, they got it right – it was probably their best Friday night event so far, and we were glad we attended.

Day 3 (Saturday): This is “The Main Event.” The key gathering during the weekend is a full day of eating and drinking at a local SugarShack, in the finest of Quebeçois lumberjack traditions. We began by gathering once again at Le Stud (which opens at 10 am) for the obligatory Bloody Marys. When the school buses arrived, we men piled in and filled them for the trip to the Handfield Sugar Shack near St.-Marc-sur-Richlieu, some 40 minutes east of Montréal. Again, I have been to several sugar shacks near Montréal, and have always found this one the most welcoming and efficient, and the food ample and delicious.

When we arrived at mid-day, the owners greeted us, as always, with free samples of “Caribou,” a traditional stomach-warming drink. Various publications describe Caribou as a mixture of 3 oz. vodka, 3 oz. brandy, 12.5 oz Canadian sherry, and 12.5 oz Canadian port; or perhaps 3 oz. port, 1.5 vodka, .25 creme de cassis, and a splash maple syrup.

I however, have it on the good authority of a local Québecker who makes it all the time or their sugar shack (and speaking on the condition of anonymity), that Caribou is 4 parts Port, 4 parts Tawny Port (or Sherry), 1 Part Canadian Rye, 1 part Scotch Whisky and a splash of Maple Syrup – and that is how I make it home. Regardless, we drank a lot of Caribou, as we continued to order it once we settled inside for the feast.

In the dining hall, a blazing fire was roaring in the fireplace at one end, where fiddlers played French jigs and reels. Long picnic tables were lined up end to end in three long rows, and a hundred and fifty or Bears settled in with their buckets full of Molson or carafes of Caribou in anticipation of the piles of food which would follow.

Pork Pâté for spreading on fresh bread. Bean Soup. Fried Pork Rinds. Scrambled eggs, baked potatoes, and mountains of ham, all optionally smothered in maple syrup. And more again. And at some point, a Bear breaks into playing spoons in time with the fiddler, and someone else whoops, and a few guys start to wrestle, and the level of laughter increases, and more food comes out….and when there’s finally no room to eat any more, they bring out Maple Syrup Pie, quite possibly the sweetest substance known to mankind. And in the midst of all this frivolity, a raffle was held that raised over $700 for REZO, a Canadian organization dedicated to "the health and well-being of gay and bisexual men." This was the first I remembered them raising money for an organization, and I think it's a great addition to the weekend.

Rolling us out the door, we then made our own ‘sugar-on-snow’ by pouring hot syrup over shaved ice and using popsicle sticks to roll the syrup into sticky lollipops.

And many of us slept on the bus ride home….only to catch our second wind for another night at Le Stud, and another nightcap in the hot tub back at La Maison DesJardins.

Day 4 (Sunday): Today we said our goodbyes. First we explored the sale at Priape, Canada’s largest store catering to gay men with fetish wear, leather, and other items of interest to gay men. Unfortunately, as is so often the case at Priape, the merchandise is geared for a younger, slimmer set; I couldn’t find a single pair of jeans with a waist size greater than 34 – and very few of us Bears are going to fit into size 34 pants. We did find some neat leather wrist cuffs with a hidden compartment to hold id and cash, so we picked up a couple. Fortunately, Priape is not the only store for us in The Village….a new store, the Fetish Armada, is located just down the street on the corner of Rue Ste.-Catherine and Rue Montcalm. It’s smaller, but friendly and eager to do business with larger men; much of their business is custom work.

By Noon, it was time for the farewell brunch, held at Le Planète on Rue Ste.-Catherine (if you’re getting the sense that Rue Ste.-Catherine is where everything happens, there’s a reason for that. In the summer, it is closed to automobiles and becomes pedestrian and sidewalk cafe heaven.) Le Planète is a small and cozy food establishment…but I have to admit that its main draw was neither the food nor the modern decor….but a staff of adorable young bears (“Cubs,” as we call them) racing to and fro to take orders, serve Mimosas, pour endless rounds of coffee, and deliver meals.

For those who live locally, the day would end with a late-afternoon Lumberjack Contest at The Stud. For the rest of us who work on Monday morning, an afternoon departure is more in order. In the past, we have always made a quick stop in the Old City of Montréal, a retail district that is the site of the original settlement and characterized by narrow streets and alleys paved in cobblestones and lined with 300-year old stone buildings. While the Old City is home to dozens of T-shirt and tacky knick-knack shops, with a little time one can find unique paintings, artwork, glass lamps, Inuit carvings and other specialty items.

But this time, still full of maple-drenched ham and exhausted from our weekend, we headed home. We hope to return some day in the summer months to see what it’s like in warmer months; but whether we do or not, we will return to Montreal next March for SugarBear Weekend 9 for certain.
Montréal and the Province of Québec are wonderful, enjoyable places right on America’s doorstep; it’s a pity more Americans, gay or straight, don’t cross the border and partake in Montreal’s joie de vivre.